1. 83 New York Construction 6/2006
Work began in March on the World
Trade Center memorial in Manhattan, a
highly anticipated project at the central
site of the Sept. 11 tragedy.
The Lower Manhattan Development
Corp., which is heading up development
of the project, plans to open the facilities
in September 2009.
The heart of the project is the creation
of Reflecting Absence, a 6-acre memorial
that will sprawl through the rectangular
trade center site. It also will entail con-
struction of a 100,000-sq.-ft. below-grade
memorial facility. Separate projects not
yet begun will create a new visitors center
and a performing arts venue.
The development corporation reported
that the memorial-museum facility budg-
et was $493 million in April, though it
planned on releasing an updated budget
later this spring.
Led by Bovis Lend Lease of New York as
construction manager, crews began site
preparation work in March, including de-
bris removal, engineering and surveying
work, delivery of construction materials,
and construction of protective barriers
around the box beam columns of the orig-
inal Twin Towers.
The project schedule calls for installing
125 footings for the complex’s structural
columns by June and pouring concrete
for the structures in early summer.
Designed by Michael Arad of New
York-based Handel Architects and Peter
Walker of Peter Walker and Partners in
Berkeley, Calif., in conjunction with asso-
ciate architect Max Bond of New York-
based Davis Brody Bond, the memorial
plan calls for a tree-lined, ground-level
plaza with two 200- by 200-ft. fountains,
from which water will fall 30 ft. into re-
flecting pools. A 30- by 10-ft. mock-up of
the fountains is being tested in Toronto.
The memorial grounds will feature
400,000 cobblestones and paving stones
and 92 benches representing the home
countries of trade center victims. A ramp
will allow visitors to walk behind the wa-
terfalls to the below-grade spaces, which
will have areas for visitors to reflect, a
mausoleum for unidentified remains of
Sept. 11 victims, space to display Sept. 11
artifacts, and an access point to the origi-
nal slurry-wall foundation of the towers.
The planned visitor center will serve as
an entry to the memorial plaza at Fulton
and Greenwich streets. Located at the
northeast corner of the memorial plaza,
the $80 million center, designed by
Snøhetta of Oslo, Norway, will also serve
as a buffer between the city and the me-
morial. The center has been vastly scaled
down from an original 250,000-sq.-ft.
structure after state leaders scrapped
plans for it to house cultural institutions
last year. The new smaller design was ex-
pected to be released in late spring. <<
Key Players
Developer: Lower Manhattan
Development Corp.
Construction Manager: Bovis Lend
Lease
Architect: Handel Architects; Peter
Walker and Partners; Davis Brody Bond
11
Top Projects Started
World Trade Center
Memorial
Cost: $493 million

2. 85 New York Construction 6/2006
A quartet of owners started construc-
tion this year on Trump Plaza in Jersey
City, a two-tower condominium complex
that is expected to result in New Jersey’s
tallest residential buildings.
In the works since 2000, the $415 mil-
lion complex faced various changes along
the way, including a new project name, an
expanded ownership roster, and most re-
cently a last-minute switch of construction
managers before work began in January.
The project had its origins with two lo-
cal developers, the Applied Cos. of Hobo-
ken and Panepinto Properties of Jersey
City. Panepinto had bought the 1.86-acre
tract a few blocks away from the Hudson
River, and after signing on Applied, it
planned to build a rental residential devel-
opment called HarborSpire on a design by
DeWitt Tishman Architects of New York.
But early in 2005, Metro Homes of
Hoboken bought a controlling stake in the
property and obtained a rezoning to shift
the use to condominiums. Then, last sum-
mer, the Trump Organization, led by real
estate celebrity Donald Trump, joined the
project and will manage the building up-
on its completion.
The original plan was for a ground-
breaking last year and a November 2007
completion, but the start was delayed
when Metro Homes decided to switch
from its initial construction manager, New
York-based Bovis Lend Lease, to A.J.D.
Construction of Leonardo, N.J.
Dean Geibel and Paul Fried, the owners
of Metro Homes, said the switch resulted
from a greater comfort level with A.J.D.
and its experience building various high-
rise residential buildings in northern New
Jersey in recent years. The completion
date has shifted to early 2008.
Foundation work was well under way by
spring, with caissons drilled into bedrock
for 22 poured concrete piles that will sup-
port a 328,658-sq.-ft., seven-story base
linking the two towers as well as the 55-
story “west” building, which will be 565 ft.
tall. The base, which will house a 696-
space parking garage, will occupy every
inch of the lot, which is bounded by Wash-
ington, Bay, Green, and Morgan streets
and within walking distance from ferry,
subway, and light-rail transit facilities in
downtown Jersey City.
Most of the base and the 531,500-sq.-ft.
western tower, which will have 445 condo-
minium units, make up the first phase of
the project. The other tower, on which
work will start this year, is a 50-story,
481,283-sq.-ft. structure that will have 417
units and open in 2009.
The design calls for a staggered posi-
tioning of the buildings and a stepped,
two-toned masonry façade. Windows will
span nearly floor to ceiling, allowing views
of Lower Manhattan for majority of the
units, which will be available in studio to
three-bedroom layouts ranging from 750
to 2,224 sq. ft. Metro Homes would not re-
lease sale price information on the units.
To distinguish the project from develop-
ments sprouting along New Jersey’s Hud-
son River shoreline, planned amenities in-
clude 24-hour door and concierge service;
23,000 sq. ft. of retail space; and a world-
class restaurant.
Other features include a high-tech
“business bar,” virtual golf course, outdoor
heated pool, Jacuzzi, spa with massage
rooms, enclosed basketball court, 8,200-
sq.-ft. fitness center, and children’s play-
ground. American Leisure of Nanuet,
N.Y., a fitness, lifestyle, and spa consulting
firm, helped design the “South Beach”-
style haven. <<
Key Players
Owner-Developer: Metro Homes
Equity Owners: Trump Organization;
Panepinto Properties; Applied Cos.
Architect: DeWitt Tishman Architects
General Contractor: A.J.D. Construction
Structural Engineer: Goldstein Associ-
ates
Concrete Contractor: Forsa Construction
Fitness Center Design Consultant:
American Leisure
12
Top Projects Started
Trump Plaza Jersey City
Cost: $415 million

3. 87 New York Construction 6/2006
Developers are already building big
in Downtown Brooklyn only two years af-
ter a major municipal rezoning, with sev-
eral planned projects aiming well above
the existing skyline. Work is already un-
der way on a $400 million pair of towers
at 306 and 313 Gold Street that may be the
tallest project on the boards.
Developed by Ron Hershco and Dean
Palin on a parcel purchased by Hershco
in February 2005, the 400-ft.-tall 306
Gold Street is the first ground-up resi-
dential high-rise to start in the district
since the 2004 approval of a Downtown
Brooklyn rezoning plan, which allows
larger residential and commercial devel-
opment. New York-based Ismael Leyva
Architects designed the project.
Plaza Construction of New York broke
ground on 306 Gold, the first phase of
the project, in April. The 40-story tower
will be ready for occupancy in late 2007
and complete in January 2008.
The 400,000 sq. ft. building will have
303 condominium apartments ranging
from studios to three-bedroom pent-
houses, a 50-ft. lap pool, fitness center,
screening room, parking garage, and
10,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. The
building will also have 24-hour door-
man and concierge services.
Work on the second tower, 313 Gold
Street, will get under way in August. The
35-story, 250,000-sq.-ft. building will have
214 condominium apartments, a 50-ft. lap
pool, fitness center, and screening room.
The two buildings are close to the Man-
hattan Bridge, as well as a Long Island
Rail Road station and several New York
City Transit subway lines.
The developer withheld sale prices for
the condominium units. TerraMark De-
velopment of Sugar Land, Texas is serv-
ing as development and marketing con-
sultant. <<
Key Players
Owner: Ron Hershco and Dean Palin
Construction Manager (306 Gold Street):
Plaza Construction
Architect: Ismael Leyva
Architects
13
Top Projects Started
306-313 Gold Street
Cost: $400 million

4. 89 New York Construction 6/2006
In the end, the house always wins –
which might explain why just a few years
after completing the $1.1 billion Borgata
Hotel, Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J.,
in 2003, its owners quickly embarked on
big-ticket expansion projects.
Work on a new $325 million hotel tow-
er began at the end of last year, right on
the heels of a $200 million project that got
into the ground last spring to expand the
casino, spa, and retail setup.
The tower is scheduled to be completed
in the fourth quarter of 2007, several
months after the casino expansion will
open. The new hotel will connect to the
low-rise casino, but stand tall in the bur-
geoning Atlantic City skyline.
The new structure will have 39 stories
and rise 457 ft., falling just short of the
existing hotel’s 43 stories and 479-ft.
height. While the original 2,000-room
tower is the tallest building in Atlantic
City, a new Harrah’s Hotel & Casino cur-
rently under construction will eventually
surpass the Borgata.
The new tower will be separate from the
existing hotel. It will contain roughly 800
rooms, suites, and condominiums; sever-
al pools; additional spa facilities; and
meeting rooms.
The tower is rising on the site of a park-
ing lot. To accommodate the loss of park-
ing, the expansion project also entails the
construction of a new 1,600-space park-
ing garage.
Construction of the tower’s foundation
has already begun. Much like the existing
Borgata buildings, the new structures will
stand on steel piles driven 65 ft. into the
ground. The new hotel tower will require
the installation of roughly 900 such piles,
while the parking garage will stand on 215
piles, though they will have greater spacing
between them.
Work on the concrete superstructure is
slated to begin this month. The structure
will have a face of metal and glass, similar
to the existing Borgata buildings that have
glass and stone exteriors. It will stand on a
steel podium.
Borgata’s Las Vegas-based owners,
Boyd Gaming and MGM Mirage, hired a
joint venture of New York-based Tishman
Construction and W.G. Yates & Sons of
Philadelphia, Miss., as construction man-
ager, the same team that built the original
complex and that is already working on
the casino expansion. <<
Key Players
Owner: MGM Mirage; Boyd Gaming
Construction Manager: Tishman
Construction; W.G. Yates & Sons
Architect: Joint venture of Bower Lewis
Thrower Architects and Cope Linder As-
sociates
Structural Engineer: Cagley Harman &
Associates
Site Engineer: Paulus Sokolowski &
Sartor
M-E-P/Security Engineer: Giovanetti
Shulman Associates
Landscape Consultants: Cairone &
Kaupp
14
Top Projects Started
Borgata Hotel Tower
Cost: $325 million

5. 91 New York Construction 6/2006
New Jersey Devils fans are used to cel-
ebrating wildly at the sight of a red light
flashing above the opposing goalkeeper’s
net because that signals a score. But it was
a green light in February that had team
and municipal officials cheering.
A state Superior Court judge threw out
a three-year-old lawsuit at the end of
March and ruled that Newark authorities
were within their rights to redirect rent
payments the city collects for Newark In-
ternational Airport toward development of
a new 18,000-seat arena.
The ruling, which frees the city to use
the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey’s rent payments for the airport, ap-
pears to have cleared the way for the $310
million arena in downtown Newark to
move ahead and provide the National
Hockey League franchise with a home for
the next 30 years. The arena is set to open
by October 2007, just in time for the Dev-
ils to start a new NHL season.
Despite the lawsuit, sitework had got-
ten under way in October. Workers had to
move 80,000 cu. yd. of dirt just to prepare
the site.
The 850,000-sq.-ft. complex will con-
tain an estimated 8 million lb. of struc-
tural steel, another 9,000 tons of steel,
and 25,000 cu. yd. of concrete.
A joint venture of Bovis Lend Lease of
New York and Hunt Construction Group
of Indianapolis is general contractor and
construction manager. HOK Sport of
Kansas City was tapped as architect for the
project, with Morris Adjmi Architects of
New York stepping in as the arena’s exte-
rior architect and El Taller Colaborativo of
Newark as associate architect.
The arena will be one of the most elab-
orate and modern complexes in the NHL.
Inside, the facility will house a 4,800-sq.-ft.
LED screen above the ice, 750 television
monitors, 78 suites, 150 points of sale, 12
escalators, eight elevators, and a gourmet
restaurant that will overlook the rink.
As part of a core redevelopment pro-
gram planned for the downtown Newark
neighborhood around the arena, the Dev-
ils franchise and other developers are
planning a 300-room hotel, 100,000-sq.-
ft. office building, 1,000-space parking
garage, and a community and cultural
center.
The new arena will be owned by the city
and the Newark Housing Authority. The
Devils will pay rent to both, which will
amount to a portion of gross revenues
generated by the facility, but no less than
$4.5 million per year. <<
Key Players
Owner: City of Newark and the
Newark Housing Authority
Construction Manager: Joint venture
of Bovis Lend Lease and Hunt
Construction Group
Design Team: HOK Sport; Morris Adjmi
Architects; El Taller Colaborativo
15
Top Projects Started
Newark Arena
Cost: $310 million